Charles Dickens' Characters

I was thinking of Great Expectations this morning because one of the characters in my current reading (A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks) mentions his memories of the book and how he (an English soldier) would like to retell the story in a series of installments while imprisoned in a WWII concentration camp with Eastern European Jews.

Dickens' books have such a rich and vast group of characters - major and minor - that I thought we could speculate on their reading choices for quite some time.

So, the characters here: Miss Havisham, Estella, Pip, Magwitch, Joe the blacksmith, Uncle Pumblechook, Pocket (who, apparently, was modeled on his son, Charley), Mr Jaggers....

I'll start with Miss Havisham. She was a piece of work. I don't know what she might have read that was in her time, but I think she would have liked psychological horrors. So, perhaps, today, she would have enjoyed the Stieg Larsson books - some twisted craziness there (my personal opinion - no offense to other readers). She might also have enjoyed Wuthering Heights. And, maybe some of those Stephen King books (which, I'll confess, I have not actually read).

What do you all think?

Pip regrettably never read the copy of The fatal shore that arrived anonymously in a parcel with an Australian stamp.

Moving from shore to Shaw, Jenny Wren in OMF was certainly an (ironic) fan of Pygmalion. And Eugene Wrayburn in the same book would have been fond of Conan Doyle. Lizzie Hexham might have enjoyed Jeanette Winterson's Boating for beginners.

thorold, I love it!

Pip and that history of Australia (sent, no doubt, by Magwich, from his years there).

Jenny Wren in Our Mutual Friend reading Pygmalion - yes, very possible. And, well-estimated for Eugene Wrayburn and Lizzie Hexham......

OK. I'll try some others.

In today's world, Estella would have a leather-bound set of all The Rules(TM): Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right books - given to her by Miss Havisham, of course.

Nicholas Nickleby would likely have read Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals by William James as he made his journey to Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire. Although, I believe that James' book was published some 40-50 years after Dicken's novel was serialized, so we might be in a bit of a time warp here :)

Staying with Nickleby, I think that Vincent Crummles would have enjoyed reading some 19th century books on the theatrical arts and on America, which, of course, would have influenced his acts eventual move there with his entire family and act.

And, it is interesting to note that Nicholas Nickleby gets mentioned in a lot of other novels, per the Wikipedia entry.

>4 thorold:
I hope Nicholas would have given Smike a copy of Down with skool!

What about Bleak House? Sir Leicester and Richard Carstone would both have been fond of legal thrillers - John Grisham, perhaps? And Lady Dedlock might well have borrowed Les liaisons dangereuses from her maid.

Dickens of course wasn't aware that Mr Krook was reposing on a heap of old copies of the Skeptical Inquirer at the time of his death, including the ones containing Joe Nickell's articles about spontaneous combustion...

The Inspector was perhaps not a reading man, but some colleague or other would have given him the Keeping up appearances spin-off books as a joke Christmas present.

Good ones, thorold. You're way better at this than I am. :)

Lady Dedlock - yes, I would imagine she'd go for the risqué romance novels from "the continent". I would think, though, that towards the end she might have turned to more tragic or gothic romances like The Mysteries of Udolpho or The Monk.

I need to think some more re. the other Bleak House characters as it's been a while since I read the book.

I love how you worked in the Keeping Up Appearances spin-off too.

The trouble with Bleak House for this game is that after a while you see nothing but lawyers.

Hard Times is a bit dull for the purposes of the game as well: Once you've given Gradgrind the collected works of John Stuart Mill and Stephen Blackpool The ragged-trousered philanthropists, you're just about done. Bounderby would probably read Arnold Bennet; Tom Gradgrind might like England made me.

Estella would no doubt have Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray (didn't he write Fifty Shades?) on her shelves. Except that we now know that Venus is hotter than was originally thought, so perhaps Estella is from somewhere much colder; Uranus perhaps?

Have any of you read any of the modern sequels to Oliver Twist or Jack Maggs which is effectively the story of Magwitch from Great Expectations?

I've found 4 books on the further adventures of the Artful Dodger. Jack Dawkins was excellent and Dodger looks good from the sample. Dodge & Twist is supposed to become a film, although the plot sounds unlikely to me.

>6 thorold:, thorold - sorry for the delayed response. Been off for a bit due to exams. Hard Times is a tough one, I agree. It was a very political book (though, of course, almost all of Dickens' books were political, weren't they?)

>7 ed.pendragon:, ed, oh, I love that Estella recommendation. Yes, she would definitely have that John Gray book.

>8 AdrianMorris:, Adrian, I haven't read the modern sequels, but I can totally see how many of Dickens' characters deserve entire novels of their own. If you get a chance, would you mind giving us the titles of those books so I can add to my wish list? Thanks.